• Related posts: I’d thought about this before I redesigned, but then forgot to put it in. I’ve added a simple plugin (Yet Another Related Posts Plugin) that pulls in related posts by category and tags. It’s capable of comparing title and body text, but I’ve opted against using that. The related posts on this site show at the bottom of a post, just before the comments. I thought it would be handy for articles like the HAProxy load balancing guide, or for finding all my posts about scaling.
• Bordered content: When I first put this design live, the content was on a white background, inset straight into the blue of the overall page background. Whilst that was fine, I thought it could use a little further visual separation, so I’ve added a deeper blue border, which I feel gives it a nice little lift.
• Highlighted comments: Just as a little added extra, I discovered that Wordpress 2.9 makes it incredibly easy to highlight comments written by the post author, so I’ve thrown in a highlight for my comments on the blog. Perhaps best for those who want to quickly scroll past everything I say.
• Archive pages no longer have a full post at the top: They’re now simply a list of posts, no featured entry, etc. – except on the home page.
• Previous / Next are now buttons: Restyled the links as buttons.
• Consolidated CSS: Rolled reset.css into dancryer.css, to drop the number of hits to the server by one.

I realise these are all very tiny changes, none of which are likely to make a difference to your reading of the site, or not doing so – whichever the case may be. I set out aiming to improve the site iteratively, changing little bits at a time and gradually improving it, I’m hoping these little changes will eventually build up and make it a great design.

I’d really appreciate any feedback you may have, no matter how big or small, whether it’s to say you’re not fond of the colour of the links, or that you simply like the site. Either is great, drop me a comment below.

I decided to go for something simple and lightweight, as I like to think that if people come here at all, it’s for the content. My old design was nice, but it wasn’t particularly easy on the eyes when reading long posts, and was quite image heavy overall. The new site also has everyone’s favourite “share this” type links throughout, so you can spam other people with my stuff, if you so desire.

Let me know what you think! Your opinions and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Being an epic nerd, the first thing I checked was whether or not it validates. Of course, it does.

I’ve been wanting to change the Ineo interface, to generally improve and streamline what we’ve got. IPB 2.2 gave me a perfect excuse to do so.

The first target was the ‘overview’ page. This has been totally revamped and is now powered entirely by plugins, which can be displayed alone, or as tabs at the top of the page. The tabs take on styles used in areas of IPB 2.2.

The second target was the sidebar. Previously, this used three separate template bits, one for the menu, one for ‘blocks’ and one for ‘items’. The majority of the menu-building was done in code, which, as I found out when trying to skin it, is not good. This has been reworked to use one template bit, and the entire menu is generated in-templates. The menu has also been redesigned to use new IPB styles and also to integrate the quick-search results area.

Finally, quite possibly the most unpopular part of the whole Ineo interface, ratings! They’ve been completely redone. No more numbers, no more “x ( x total votes )”. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

This wouldn’t be an interface entry without an accompanying set of screenshots, or a video. So here you are:

Video used to be linked here.

Any feedback you have would be greatly appreciated.

The difference is, I actually like it this time. I can re-theme it for seasons/events if i want to, as well.

Let me know what you think…

These guys are trying to set a “standard” for icon design and naming for open source software, namely linux – but generally covers the rest too.

I’m not really much of a linux fan, but I do like the general GUI that they’ve got going on, and these tango guys are really doing some good work. The icons are licensed under a Creative Commons “Share-Alike” license, so you can use them in free/commercial software without worry, as long as you give credit where credit is due.

I’m going to use them in some things I am working on at the moment.

For those that are interested, you can find their stuff at: http://www.tango-project.org/